Hiking In The Beautiful Mt Cook National Park

The back of Mt Cook from the Tasman Valley
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Woke on the 31st to find a parking ticket slapped on the Mazda for parking facing the wrong direction! So before we left Dunedin Andy wangled our way out of paying the $40 fine at the Council Office. We drove North up the coast for 1hr and stopped to look at the famous Moeraki Boulders which sit on the shoreline of the beach. We then headed North-East to Mt Cook Nat Park and eventually got there in the evening after 498km, including 156km we'd added on by driving in totally the wrong direction! It was chucking it down when we arrived and thick cloud covered all of the mountains, so we prayed it would improve for our 3 night stay. On 1st Feb the rain had cleared by the clouds persisted to be a pain. In the morning we did the short 25min walk to Kea Point, passed the sub-alpine grasslands to the lookout in the Mueller Glacier Moraine Wall. We've seen a lot of mountains on our travels but Mt Cook could well be the most beautiful we've seen with its classis pyramid shape and pristine white glaciers clinging right up to its peak. We sat, getting blasted by the gusty winds, for 25mins taking in the scenery of Mueller Lake sat in front of the gravel covered glacier, Mt Sefot and The Footstool covered with glaciers and Mt Cook sat at the head of the Hooker Valley. After, we drove 30km to the turquoise Pukaki Lake which looked brilliant in the sun but the clouds had started to cover the spectacluar mountain range behind it. In the afternoon we did the 8km Hooker Valley track which took us 2hrs 25mins. We hiked up the valley, crossing Hooker River over 2 swingbridges before reaching the Hooker Glacier Terminal Lake with its white icebergs. Despite the slight drizzle and the cold blustery winds coming off the glacier, we stopped there to admire the scenery for 25mins, before hiking back. We were treated to clear blue sky when we woke on the last day. We made the most of it and started the Sealy Tarns Track at 9.25am - known for its fabulous views but a tough steep climb. The big rocky steep steps sapped the strength from our legs and seemed never ending but after 1hr 9mins we reached the tarns to see that our hard effort was rewarded handsomely with dramatic views. Immediately below was Mueller Glacier and Lake, right in front of us was the massive Huddleston Glacier rising high to the top of Mt Sefton and The Footstool. To our semi-right stood the superb Mt Cook, again looking polished as it shone in the sun. We spent over 1hr sat on a rock legde studying this beautiful environment before starting the considerably easier hike down which only took 40mins. Later in the day we did a 40min loop walk to the Tasman Glacier Lake where we sat on a large moraine overlooking the lake with its icebergs, behind it the large Tasman Glacier and at the head of the valley Mt Haidinger, Mt De La Beche and the Minarets, all covered by Rudolph Glacier. After, we walked teh adjoining trail up to the Tasman Glacier View which gave a different view of the head of the valley but not as good as the one from the first walk so we didnt stop long. After the disapointment of Dunedin we were back to enjoying the NZ scenery with a bang!